It's Showtime!

Some costumes never go out of style. Among crossdressers, the French maid uniform has been a perennial favorite—especially at Halloween, when a short black dress, crisp white apron, lace trim and a little cap can transform an ordinary evening into something delightfully theatrical.

Part of the appeal is the whole look. The uniform is instantly recognizable, fun to wear and wonderfully different from everyday clothes. Add stockings, heels and a feather duster, and you have a costume that practically tells its own story. For many of us, Halloween is the perfect excuse to bring that story to life.

But let’s be honest: the French maid uniform doesn’t always stay in the costume closet until October. Some crossdressers enjoy wearing one for a photo, a party or a playful evening at home. And in our imagined world of changing dress codes, why couldn’t it become an everyday work uniform? Picture a whole office staff arriving in coordinated maid uniforms, ready to tackle the day’s assignments—with a quick dusting of the conference table before the morning meeting.

Of course, “maid uniform” can mean many things. Maybe yours is classic French maid style. Maybe it’s a neat housekeeping dress, a server’s outfit, a nurse’s uniform, a flight attendant’s ensemble or another uniform that makes you feel especially put together. There’s something satisfying about dressing for a role, even when the role is simply “confident and ready to face the day.”

So, readers, let’s see your favorite uniform! Send in your best photo wearing a French maid uniform—or any other kind of uniform you love. Halloween costume, everyday workwear, or just an outfit that makes you smile: we’d love to see it.

And don’t be shy. We know you wear them!

Wearing Ann Taylor

John Epperson AKA Lypsinka femulating in the 1994 film Witch Hunt.

Stuff 137: Support

By JJ Atwell

Be There

No, today’s Stuff isn’t about the need for a good bra. Instead, it’s about how we support others and how they support us. Everybody needs support in life—a little reassurance that we’re doing the right thing, or an example to follow.

Have you noticed how women often greet one another? They smile and compliment some aspect of a friend’s appearance. It seems to come naturally to them.

Shouldn’t crossdressers do the same? It would be nice to offer a kind word no matter how we’re dressed. But in guy world, that doesn’t seem to happen much—unless someone comments on the sports team logo on your hat or something similar.

When you’re presenting as a woman, does a switch flip in your head, and do you start trying to emulate the way women interact? I know that when I meet people at our local group meetings, I make a point of complimenting some aspect of their outfit. I might ask where they found those shoes, for example. I’d be curious to know if you do something similar.

Offer Help

Being there to listen when a crossdressing friend is having a hard time is an important way to support others in our community. Of course, that’s true in any situation, not just in the world of femulating. But today, I’ll focus on our particular corner of society.

I’ve been fortunate to make some good friends through our local group. We now spend time together no matter how we’re dressed. We often talk about things going on in our lives and suggest ways to handle particular situations. Sometimes those situations are related to crossdressing; other times, they’re just ordinary life.

Here’s one example. When I was considering getting a new wig, I turned to one of our group members, who has quite a collection and has become something of an expert. She has a whole list of resources about wigs and which styles work best for different face shapes. I wrote about my experience in Stuff #98, if you’re curious. In this case, I was the one who benefited from a friend’s good advice and support.

A different situation came up when a new crossdresser contacted me about attending one of our group’s monthly meetings. I say “new” to describe her level of experience. Although she was in her 30s or older, she hadn’t yet gone out dressed. In fact, she mostly wore leggings and a top at home, without shapewear or a wig.

She asked whether she’d be welcome at our meeting in guy mode or partial girl mode. I assured her she could come however she felt comfortable. In the days leading up to the meeting, we exchanged several emails, and I did my best to ease her jitters.

She did come to the meeting in partial girl mode. We all welcomed her and helped her feel at ease. There was no judgment from us. We all started somewhere, and we know how important those first steps can be.

Just Listen

A big part of offering support is simply listening. Sometimes people just need someone to hear their story. The important thing is not to turn the conversation into your story. Offer advice when asked, but keep the focus on them.

It costs nothing to let someone vent, and it can help them a great deal. I hope you’ll all make an effort to support others in our community.

I’ll Be Back

As always, comments are welcome here on the blog or by email at Jenn6nov at-sign gmail dot com. JJ is always looking for more Stuff, so if there’s something you’d like to read about, please let me know!

Wearing Boston Proper

Annette, a femulator from Idaho (circa 1961)

Is the Househusband Becoming the Housewife?

I recently saw the Swiffer television commercial (above) that featured a little gender role reversal. While the husband mopped the floor, his wife relaxed nearby reading a magazine.

There was no suggestion that he was merely “helping” her with the housework. He seemed to be the person responsible for cleaning the floor, while she was perfectly content to let him get on with it.

We have certainly come a long way from the old television commercials in which the immaculately dressed housewife happily polished, scrubbed and mopped while her husband sat in his favorite chair. In those days, a man might occasionally make a mess, but it was always the woman’s job to clean it up.

Now the husband is holding the mop.

Naturally, this raises an important question: Where will advertising take gender role reversal next?

If the husband is going to perform the traditional housewife’s duties, perhaps advertisers will eventually decide that he should look the part. Instead of mopping in jeans and a T-shirt, he could wear a practical housedress, a freshly tied apron, hosiery and a comfortable pair of low heels. His hair could be held neatly in place with a scarf, and a little lipstick would help him look presentable while doing his chores.

Meanwhile, his wife could sit nearby in trousers, reading her magazine and occasionally reminding him that he missed a spot.

At first, such an advertisement would probably be presented as a joke. Viewers would laugh at the sight of a husband dressed like a stereotypical 1950s housewife. But advertising has a way of making the unusual seem ordinary. Show the same idea often enough, and before long nobody laughs or even gives it a second thought.

The apron becomes practical. The housedress becomes comfortable. The heels become surprisingly flattering. Soon the feminized househusband is no longer the punch line—he is the target customer.

Swiffer could even introduce a complete campaign featuring cheerful husbands exchanging housekeeping tips, comparing dresses and discussing which lipstick stays on best while doing the floors. Their wives would come home from work, admire the spotless house and compliment their husbands on how pretty they look.

Will one commercial showing a husband mopping the floor lead directly to husbands dressed as housewives?

Probably not.

But it is a start—and advertisers have already put the mop in his hands.

Now they only have to give him the housedress and heels.

Wearing Boston Proper

Femulating in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1984

The Side

Vintage Style

Wearing Boston Proper

Carlos Enrique Almirante femulating in the Cuban film Fatima y el parque de la fraternidad.

Penny's Believe It Or Not

By Penny from Edinburgh 

Facing three years in prison, a young con man goes on the run. To avoid being caught by the police, he disguises himself as a woman. Because he bears a strong resemblance to his sister, he is able to use her identity and ID card. As time passes, he medically transitions.

Eight years later, the authorities finally catch up with him—or perhaps I should say her—after discovering that the sister’s credit card is being used locally while she is out of the country.

It sounds like a plot from Fictionmania, BigCloset or some other trans-fiction website, but according to a report by Turkey’s Dunya News, it actually happened in Istanbul.

Of course, most plots on trans-fiction sites are complete nonsense, but a few have actually played out in real life.

John “Virginia” Bone

I came across several examples while browsing old press clippings at the Digital Transgender Archive. These particular stories are British because that is the part of the archive on which I focused, but I am sure it contains many similar reports from the United States and elsewhere.

I found two stories about young men who dragged up and won conventional beauty contests. In 1968, John Bone got all glammed up as Virginia and was crowned Essex University’s Charity Queen. The following year, 17-year-old Harry Blathwayt won the beauty competition at the Horning Regatta in the English county of Norfolk and became Miss Horning.

“Head Made Boy Dress as a Girl,” reported the News of the World in 1968. The reason for the punishment? The 12-year-old boy’s hair was too long!

The boy was mortified, and his father removed him from the school. I suspect more than a few readers of this blog are thinking, “If only it had been me.”

The rather more upmarket Daily Telegraph reported in 1985: “Handbag Attack by Sex-Change Actress Over PC’s ‘He’ Jibe.”

The actress in question was April Ashley, one of the earliest Britons to undergo gender-confirmation surgery. She had been one of the parties in the 1970 English legal case Corbett v Corbett, which ruled that a person could not legally change sex. On that basis, her marriage to the Honourable Arthur Corbett was annulled. It would be many years before legislation overturned the effects of that decision.

In 2013, Rupert Murdoch’s famously sensationalist Sun newspaper ran the headline “Sex-Swop Doc in Stag-Gore Horror” after a red deer stag attacked scientist Dr. Kate Stone. This report did not come from the Digital Transgender Archive.

Stone subsequently complained that publishing her transgender status was an intrusion because it was irrelevant to the story. However, it may have been relevant in an unexpected way: It was suggested that the stag singled her out because she was the tallest member of her walking group.

My favorite transgender newspaper clipping, however, has to be the 1985 story of Dean—later Dena—Steers, a young preoperative transsexual who was taking hormones and always wore women’s clothing.

Dena was arrested for using the ladies’ restroom. Then, while out on bail for that offense, she was arrested again—this time for using the men’s restroom!

Sometimes truth really is stranger than trans-fiction.

Wearing Boston Proper

Femulating in Mount Enterprise, Texas in 1981

The Schoolgirl in My Yearbook

While poking around the Internet, I came upon a fellow who said he had used AI to feminize his high school yearbook photo and was very pleased with the result.

I had always wondered what I would have looked like en femme au lycée, so I decided to do the same thing. I used AI to feminize my high school yearbook photo—and I, too, was very pleased with the result. In fact, I was so pleased that I posted it on DeviantArt.

Shortly after posting the image, I received an email from Tammy. She wrote, “It came out great! Could I ask how you got that result?”

I was happy to tell her, and then I thought, “Why not share the procedure with everyone?” So here it is, step by step.

1. Get the original photo onto your computer. I used my iPhone to photograph my headshot in my high school yearbook and transferred the image to my MacBook Pro using AirDrop.

2. Open ChatGPT in your computer’s web browser and start a new chat.

3. Upload or copy the photo into the ChatGPT prompt box.

4. Type the following instruction and press Return: Feminize and colorize the image.

ChatGPT will work for a few minutes and return a feminized, colorized version of the photo.

5. My first result needed some tweaking, so I entered additional instructions: Thin the eyebrows, change the eye color to green, add eye makeup, add bangs to the hairdo, change the clothing to a Catholic schoolgirl uniform with a white blouse under a navy blue jumper, update the colorization for a more modern look.

ChatGPT went to work again and returned the image above, which I posted on DeviantArt.

But I could not leave well enough alone! I entered one more instruction: Change this to a full-length photo of the girl wearing her Catholic high school uniform with hosiery, Mary Jane heels, a handbag and schoolbooks, standing in a school hallway.

The second image (right) are the results.

Isn’t it amazing what AI can do? (I know I'm amazed!)

Wearing Valentino Garavani (boots)

Vesna Prague